Install a library plugin with the CLI

athenode use installs a library entry into the current directory for the AI tools you choose, without an Athenode account, a project or the daemon. A library entry is a plugin published to the plugin library: a named bundle of skills, agents, rules, MCP servers and plugin files. The Athenode website shows the command for each entry under Install with the CLI.

The command installs only entries whose public display is on, and always their latest version. Inside a project of the daemon you can use an entry in another way: the Plugin library page adds it to the project as a plugin of its own or merges it into one, as the plugin library describes.

Install an entry

You need Node.js 22.16 or later. Without a global install, athenode use runs the same command. Find the entry's slug in its address on the Athenode website, lib.athenode.com/<entry-slug>, or copy the whole command from the entry's page.

Open a terminal in the root of your repository.
Run the command with the entry's slug:
```
athenode use web-shop-review
```
Choose the AI tools to install for, and whether the installed files are listed in .gitignore.
Read the plan of the files that will be added, changed and removed, and confirm it.

The CLI installs the entry the way init installs a plugin, as Install a plugin describes: a plugin package or files for each AI tool, the rules block and the MCP servers. The plugin package and its commands are named after the entry, so the skills of the standard Athenode plugin's entry run as /atn:mindmap and the skills of an entry named web-shop-review as /web-shop-review:<skill>. After the install, follow the steps the CLI prints under "Still to do in your tools:".

The CLI records the entry's slug and its version in .athenode/config.json, together with the tools you chose. That file holds no token.

Options of `athenode use`

athenode use <entry-slug> [--targets <ids>] [--gitignore | --no-gitignore] [--public-plugin <replace|keep>] [--force] [--yes] [--dry-run]

Option	What it does
`--targets <ids>`	Install for these AI tools without asking, as a comma-separated list of the ids on the supported AI tools page.
`--gitignore`, `--no-gitignore`	List the installed files in `.gitignore`, or leave them out, without asking.
`--public-plugin <replace\|keep>`	Answer the question the CLI asks when a public Athenode plugin package with the same name is turned on in the project.
`--force`	Replace a plugin that `athenode init` installed in the directory without asking.
`-y`, `--yes`	Apply the plan without the confirmation question and without the other questions.
`--dry-run`	Print the plan and write nothing.

Without a terminal to answer in, such as in CI, the CLI uses the stored choices, or Claude Code and Codex with the files listed in .gitignore when none are stored. The Athenode CLI reference lists every command.

Update an installed entry

Run the same command again to bring the install to the entry's latest version. When the entry has no newer version and you keep the same AI tools and .gitignore answer, the CLI prints "Already up to date" and changes nothing. When the publisher released a newer version, the CLI shows the plan for it and, after you confirm, installs it and removes the files the new version no longer has.

Replace a plugin installed with `init`

When the directory holds a plugin that athenode init installed from an Athenode project, use asks whether to replace it with the library entry. Without a terminal to answer in, or with --yes or --dry-run, the command refuses and changes nothing unless you pass --force:

athenode use web-shop-review --force --yes

Connect a project of the daemon later

Some entries include the Athenode MCP server, whose tools need a project, as the standard Athenode plugin does. After installing such an entry, the CLI prints a hint to run athenode init in the directory. athenode init binds the directory to a project of the daemon and replaces the library install with a plugin of that project.

MCP servers of an entry

An entry installs with its MCP servers. Their configuration is public, so its values are ${VAR} references to environment variables that you set where your AI tool runs. After the install, the CLI lists the variables that the MCP servers need and that are not set in your shell. MCP servers in a plugin describes the references.

An entry whose latest version was published before MCP server configuration became public installs without its MCP servers until its publisher publishes a new version.

When `use` stops with an error

Message	What it means and what to do
"does not exist or is no longer shown publicly. Nothing was changed."	There is no entry with this slug, or its public display is off, or it was unpublished. Check the slug on the entry's page.
"Too many installs from this network for now (429)."	The installs from one network address are limited to 30 per hour. The message says how long to wait.
"Re-run with --force to replace it with the library entry"	The directory holds a plugin installed with `init`, and the CLI could not ask. Pass `--force` to replace it.
"This project was installed with `athenode use`"	`athenode sync` ran in a directory installed with `use`, which has no project to sync from. Run `athenode use` again to update, or `athenode init` to bind a project.

The Athenode website counts each install of an entry and shows the total on the entry's page. What Athenode stores describes what an install records.

Last updated: 2026-10-19